The National Tiger Conservation Authority will be conducting security audit in five tiger reserves across the country including the Corbett tiger reserve in Uttarakhand.

Though the NTCA deputy inspector general SP Yadav said he was too busy to either recall the names of these tiger reserves or the parameters of the security audit, wildlife activists state that all wildlife and environment in addition to tigers could benefit greatly if the security audit is undertaken efficiently and its recommendations are executed effectively at the ground level.

Apart from being India's national animal, the tiger is also important because its conservation will ensure the conservation of many other animals and the environment. India also holds over half of the world's tiger population (in the wild) with 1,706 living in the nation according to the latest tiger census report released by the NTCA in March 2011. This makes the security audit of tiger reserves all the more important because inspite of efforts undertaken by the authority and State forest departments, poaching of tigers and other big cats, their prey species and anthropogenic damage in protected areas has continued in many parts of the nation.

According to the letter issued by the NTCA to five tiger reserves including Nagarhole tiger reserve in Karnataka, Tadoba-Andheri in Maharashtra, Bandavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Kaziranga in Assam and Corbett in Uttarakhand in January this year, security audit of these reserves will be undertaken within six months.

Speaking to The Pioneer, DIG, NTCA, Yadav said that he couldn't recall the names of these tiger reserves and was too busy to elaborate on the security audit. "We will study the security plan of the tiger reserves, see how well it has been implemented and evaluate the process and its outcome," he said.

The security audit has nothing to do with the tiger population and is focussed mainly on the implementation of security measures and their impact on tiger reserves, said Yadav.

According to the latest figures, there are at least 214 tigers in the Corbett tiger landscape. Though wildlife activists had raised concerns about 18 tiger deaths in Uttarakhand last year, Corbett director Ranjan Kumar Mishra states that a majority of these deaths were caused by natural factors. The security audit to be undertaken by NTCA will look into aspects like identification and nature of threats, prevailing practices and implementation of security plan, intelligence gathering and communication, capacity for firearm use and maintenance, coordination with agencies and media and strategy for handling situations caused by natural calamities.